Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 3521 - The Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act

(House Rules)

(Rep. Ryan, R-WI, and 37 cosponsors)

The Administration strongly supports House passage of H.R. 3521. The legislation creates an expedited procedure that guarantees an up-or-down vote on certain rescissions proposed by the President, helping to eliminate unnecessary spending and discouraging waste. Since taking office, a priority of the Administration has been identifying and cutting unnecessary spending and redirecting low-priority spending to more productive uses. This Administration has repeatedly asked the Congress to authorize new tools to eliminate unnecessary spending and discourage waste in the first place.

On May 24, 2010, the President sent to the Congress the Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act of 2010 providing for expedited rescission authority. H.R. 3521 is similar in many ways to the President's proposal; however, it is not identical. It would allow the President, within 45 days of enactment of a bill or joint resolution, to transmit a special message to the Congress proposing to cancel any discretionary funding provided in the legislation. Legislation implementing the proposed cancellations would receive expedited consideration in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the bill implementing the rescissions would not be subject to amendment. To protect the Congress' equities, the President could not repeatedly submit rescissions of the same provisions, and any temporary withholdings of funds would have to be released after the period of time for congressional consideration has passed.

The Administration looks forward to continuing to work with the Congress on passage of expedited rescission authority as requested by the President.